He was not good. From the minute he came into the game it was obvious that the normally reliable Phelps was keeping the ball up – and hittable.

Not that he was the only goat in tonight’s extra-innings loss that denied the Yanks a sweep of the D-Backs. The offense was mostly handcuffed against yet another young pitcher they hadn’t faced, and it was only the solo shots – especially the dramatic homer by Cervelli that tied the game – that made it interesting.

Hughes was much better than previous outings and I couldn’t have asked for more, but the defense was sloppy. My attention wavered throughout; I had YES on the computer and CNN on the TV and was going back and forth between the game and all the developing news. A lot’s happening in our world right now, and sports isn’t high on my list of priorities in the evenings when I can finally sit down and take everything in.

That said, the announcement earlier today about Jeter made my heart sink. I had a feeling he wasn’t coming back any time soon and had almost made peace with Nunez as our substitute everyday shortstop (I said almost), but to actually hear Cashman say that the ankle was broken again was just awful. Was the ankle so weak from wear and tear that it cracked in a different spot? From all those foul balls? From getting back on the field too soon?

Who knows. Maybe the Captain will be okay after the All-Star break and maybe he won’t. What I do know is that no one is more frustrated and disappointed than he is. Joel Sherman tweeted that A-Rod will probably be back before Jeter, and everybody jumped on him for saying it. I really hope it’s not true.